September 2008
Aged Beer: The Rules I Follow To Get The Cellar Filled
Posted by on Monday, September 29, 2008 in - 4 comments
Stonch has a very good post today about how he finally came to love Rochfort 10 - he gave it a couple of years in the cellar. Result? • Gone is the excessive carbonation and the oppressive aroma of fiery alcohol. Instead, the beer's smoother and more enjoyable. In fact, it's positively easy …
Saturday Night Dinner Norwegian Style In Canada
Posted by on Saturday, September 27, 2008 in - 1 comment
I hope Knut would be proud. I made dinner tonight entirely out of the Kitchen of Light, a Norwegian cookbook based on a series by Andreas Viestad called New Scandinavian Cooking. We have a series on DVD. The parsnips baked with cumin and olive oil were the best but the way Viestad directed that … read more »
Getting Your Beer On The Cheap In NYC
Posted by on Thursday, September 25, 2008 in - 1 comment
This photo essay on hunting for ten buck-a-beer beers through the bars and stores of New York is just fun.
Belgium: Pannepot GR '05, De Struise / Deca, W' Vleteren
Posted by on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 in - 1 comment
I must have been very good today as this is the bottle I decided to open. I mowed the half the lawn. And I held the fort at my desk with a certain style. I'll likely even keep the empty as it even has the mark of importers Roland + Russell, the kind folks who forwarded this sample. • But, you …
More Yeasty History, More Yeasty Science
Posted by on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 in - leave a comment
It seems like just a couple of weeks ago that I was learning about yeast history through science. Oh. It was just a couple of weeks ago. Now, instead of reaching back just four centuries, science is taking us back through over 400,000 centuries of yeastiness: • Trapped inside a Lebanese weevil …
What's Beer Worth In Papua New Guinea?
Posted by on Monday, September 22, 2008 in
No wonder folks say PNG. And what is someone called from there - it's probably Papa Guinenononan for all I know...or just Papan. But whatever it is, that nation's South Pacific Brewery of the National Capital District plays a huge economic role if this article is correct. It produces produced 53.3 …
Knut Visits The European Beer Festival In Copenhagen
Posted by on Sunday, September 21, 2008 in - 1 comment
Copenhagen. The first taste of something cosmopolitan and sophisticated for us Norwegians or, at least it used to be. Sure, we had been to the Steen + Strøm department store in Oslo to ride the escalators, but this was way beyond that. Palaces and castles, parks with peacocks. Zoo and the Tivoli …
What To Do With A Beer Blog For 2008/09?
Posted by on Thursday, September 18, 2008 in - 6 comments
It's a good question: what to do? One to think about over a quality imperial stout. When I started blogging almost five and a half years ago, I thought I wouldn't have much to say after a few weeks. We are now 6,116 posts later, putting the two blogs together, and, yes, I may not have much to say …
Triples: Kerberos, Flying Dog, Frederick, Maryland, USA
Posted by on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 in - 1 comment
Stan brought me this one, triggered I think by this conversation instigated by Travis, developing into a bit of a pile-on but joined in by Josh of Flying Dog before it got channeled into a consideration of the concept of styles. All that and here was I never having tried one. • On the pour, this …
In These Hard Times, Japan Is Losing Its Taste For Beer
Posted by on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 in - 3 comments
This economic hard times theory of mine is taking its lumps in Japan - along with the sales of beer. But perhaps there are good reasons for beer not to be the affordable luxury in some circumstances, as Australia's ABC News reports: • ...Japan's declining economy shifted corporate structure and …
Next, CAMRA To Blame Social And Economic Equality
Posted by on Sunday, September 14, 2008 in - 5 comments
My folks came out of industrial Scotland a little over fifty years ago now. Even in the 1950s the end was near for the shipyards where at least three generations of we folk had riveted and steering gear fitted their way to a pretty modest level of economic despair. • When their chances came …
Jamaica Refutes "Beer Is Affordable Luxury" Theory
Posted by on Saturday, September 13, 2008 in - leave a comment
So much for my very clever idea that beer rises to the top during tougher economic times if the situation at Red Stripe is anything to go by: • Red Stripe, the Jamaican brewers of beer, has blamed a soft economy that slowed demand and rising cost of inputs, including energy and raw materials … read more »
California: Imperial IPA, Green Flash, San Diego
Posted by on Thursday, September 11, 2008 in - 3 comments
I picked this one up at C's Farm Market in Oswego a few months ago but this is no beer for the heat and the sweat: 101 IBU and 9% so it is safe to say this is a big hop bomb. I noticed that Stonch has said goodbye to his pub's summer ale. But that also means hello to other things. Like big hop …
Two Lager Yeast Strains, Two Homecaves
Posted by on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 in - 11 comments
I am sure I will get this wrong and that Ron will be able to clarify but it appears that two forensic yeast researchers have determined that lager yeast came into existence twice during two separate events: • ...the team discovered that it happened at least twice in two separate locations in …
Maine: Black, Allagash Brewing Company, Portland
Posted by on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 in - 4 comments
You will recall I visited Portland, Maine a few weeks ago and when there stopped by Allagash Brewing to pick up a small haul to bring back. The beer called only Black is describes as a Belgian style stout, the only other example of which I have seen is Podge Belgian Imperial Stout sampled in the …
Pubs And Tavs: What Is The Oldest Pub Near You?
Posted by on Monday, September 8, 2008 in - 13 comments
A few weeks ago, Jay posted over at Brookston Beer Bulletin about the oldest bars in America after reading about a list someone posted with their take on the oldest ten. Jay disagreed and was able to put together his own list of 50 with no less than 14 pre-1800 bars. It got my brain thinking about …
Restricting You To Exactly...Errr...Way Too Much
Posted by on Sunday, September 7, 2008 in - 2 comments
Sure we all gripe about excessive laws controlling alcohol use form time to time but this one from Australia seems a bit weird because the restriction is, ummm, not very restrictive: • For the second year running, NSW Police and V8 Supercars have agreed to limit the amount of beer, wine and …
Apparently Beer Is, In Fact, The Affordable Luxury
Posted by on Saturday, September 6, 2008 in - 1 comment
Last December, I suggested that we may see a bump of sorts in beer sales in response to the recession in the US. In another in a series of events that prove that, yes, if enough monkeys used typewriters one could write sonnets, it appears I may well have been right as The Washington Post notes … read more »
Session 19: One More New Beer From Germany
Posted by on Friday, September 5, 2008 in - 2 comments
I think this is just gold. Today, The Session, the monthly celebration of one theme by beer bloggers all around the globe...was forgotten by The Barley Blog: • I need to pay attention to my own blog announcements — I forgot that today was Session #19. Well, I didn’t really forget about the date …
News Flash: Mongolian Beer News Update News
Posted by on Thursday, September 4, 2008 in - 2 comments
Not so much news about the Mongolian brewing industry but the fact that I have found a bit of news about beer in Mongolia at all. Last January, the news was not happy: police corruption, breweries shutting and a questionable reporter. Today's update in the Ulan Bator Post about the Chinggis …
Travis Compares New Belgium To Old Belgium
Posted by on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 in - 4 comments
[Ed.: It's been oddly busy in my life. Good Beer Blog HQ has been idle and we know what idle hands are. Happily Travis of CNYBrew.com sent me this post yesterday to fill the gap. I expect further a guest post soon from our man in Norway, Knut, as well. Stay tuned. I'll get back on track. Really I …
